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Aug 8, 2022 · The Eternal Influence of Imogen Heap. For the past two decades, the British singer-songwriter has balanced machine wizardry with startling humanity in her electronic pop. The world has finally ...
Heap has been regarded as influential in pop music, specifically in electropop and for using technology in her music. NPR's Lindsay Kimbell also referred to Heap as a "pioneer of electronic pop" in 2018. [118] Billboard called Heap an "electro-pop innovator". [125]
May 8, 2019 · The influential pop artist discusses her impact, the Creative Passport, and innovating in the music industry.
- Matt Moen
- Overview
- History
- Personal Life
- Legacy
Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap (born: December 9, 1977 (1977-12-09) [age 46]), better known online as Imogen Heap is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. In early 2002, Heap and English record producer Guy Sigsworth formed the electronic duo Frou Frou and release...
Early Life
Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap was born on 9 December 1977 in Havering, Greater London. Her name was inspired by that of British composer Imogen Holst, as her mother wanted Heap to become a cellist like Holst. She played music from an early age, first learning the piano due to "wanting attention" as a middle child and realizing, according to her, that "it was something [she] could make a lot of noise with". She did not enjoy playing the music of classical composers such as Bach and Beethoven, and would instead attempt to play in their style to convince her parents she was practicing their music. As a child, she began recording music by recording herself playing piano on cassette, then recording herself again singing over it. She soon began taking lessons and became classically trained in several instruments including piano, cello and clarinet while attending Friends School, a private, Quaker-run boarding school in Saffron Walden. At around age 10, she began composing Christmas carols for her school's choir. Due to being placed a year above children her age, Heap claims she did not get along with many people from the school and spent most of her time in the music room practicing piano. She stated, "In boarding school...I was mocked about the clothes I wore, the way I looked, whatever. People there really did regard me as some kind of freak from the middle of nowhere. And these things do matter a lot when you are sixteen, seventeen." Heap's mother, an art therapist, and father, a construction rock retailer, separated when she was twelve years old. Also at age twelve, she taught herself how to use Cubase on an Atari computer at Friends School. By the age of thirteen, she had begun writing songs. At age fifteen, she began using reel-to-reel recording to record her music, using a home computer to program the music.
1995-1996
After boarding school, she went on to study at the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon, South London, where she first began regularly singing and writing songs due to loneliness. It was there that she recorded her first song to feature her vocals, "Missing You", which was released on the BRIT School's Class of 1994 album and earned her attention from manager Mickey Modern after he saw her performance at a talent showcase. After being introduced to Nik Kershaw by Modern, Heap recorded demos which were taken to Rondor Music. A few months later, Heap signed her first record contract, aged 18, with independent record label Almo Sounds. In 1996, Heap began working with British experimental pop band Acacia, which featured her future collaborator Guy Sigsworth. While never a full member of the band, Heap was a guest vocalist and contributed to various Acacia singles and album tracks. Heap's first major live solo performance was as part of the line-up for the 1996 Prince's Trust Concert in Hyde Park.
1998-2001
Almo Sounds was acquired by Universal, forcing its artists to either move to other labels or be released. Heap was one of the artists who was dropped from the label, leaving her without a record contract. During her time as an unsigned artist, Heap appeared on two singles: "Meantime", a track written by her former Acacia colleagues Guy Sigsworth and Alexander Nilere for the soundtrack to the independent British film G:MT – Greenwich Mean Time and "Blanket", a 1998 collaboration with British hip hop band Urban Species. "Blanket" was Heap's first charting single, reaching number 56 on the UK Singles Chart.
Heap began dating film director Michael Lebor in 2012. In June 2014, Heap announced in her video blog that she was pregnant with her first child with Lebor. She gave birth to their daughter later that year.
Heap has been regarded as influential in pop music, specifically in electropop and for using technology in her music. NPR's Lindsay Kimbell also referred to Heap as a "pioneer of electronic pop" in 2018. Billboard called Heap an "electro-pop innovator". In 2018, Stereogum's Margaret Farrell referred to Heap as "pop's unsung pioneer" and "an elect...
- Margaret Farrell
- “Hide And Seek” (from Speak For Yourself, 2005) “Hide And Seek” is Imogen Heap’s most devastating and haunting track to date. Whether heard via a choice sync by a music supervisor or a chance encounter over a streaming service, the song lingers for days or even years.
- “Goodnight And Go” (from Speak For Yourself, 2005) As cliche as it sounds, love is magical. It can be bewildering, astounding, warm, kind. All at once it is overwritten and underwritten.
- “Let Go” (from Frou Frou’s Details, 2002) Probably Frou Frou’s most popular song, “Let Go” is a cataclysmic escape, finding the splendor in upheaval.
- “Speeding Cars” (“Goodnight And Go” B-side, 2006) An affecting B-side about mental health, “Speeding Cars” details the all-too-familiar grips of depression and the suicidal ideations that tag along with it.
She signed her first record deal at 18, and helped set the tone of electro-pop in the 21st century, first as one-half of the duo Frou Frou, and then as a solo artist known for her innovative use of instruments and sound manipulators.
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Is heap a 'pioneer of electronic pop'?
Is heap a 'electro-pop innovator'?
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Who is Imogen Heap?
Listen to Imogen’s entire discography, unreleased songs, videos, and watch livestreams or chat with her directly in the app. ai.mogen. Learn about Imogen’s ongoing AI project. Talk to Augmented Imogen Heap, help contribute to the AImogen model, and see roadmap of its development. MiMu Gloves.
